GALERIE BUGADA & CARGNEL PARIS
JULIO LE PARC
Hall 2.0, stand G12 1
Julio Le Parc with Continuel-Lumière Cylindre in 1962
On the cover: Julio Le Parc with Continuel-Lumière Cylindre 1962 - 2012 wood, plexiglas, motor, light bulb 510 x 460 x 140 cm exhibition view, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2013
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JULIO LE PARC
“Generally speaking, I have tried, through my experiments, to elicit a different type of behavior from the viewer […] to seek, together with the public, various means of fighting off passivity, dependency or ideological conditioning, by developing reflective, comparative, analytical, creative or active capacities.” Julio Le Parc
Historic figure and committed artist, Julio Le Parc (b. 1928) is a major figure in Op and Kinetic art, founding member of G.R.A.V. (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel, or Visual Art Research Group) and recipient of the Grand Prize for Painting at the 1966 Venice Biennale. This socially conscious artist was expelled from France after the events of May 1968. A defender of human rights, he fought against dictatorship in Latin America. In 1972, when the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris offered him a large retrospective, Le Parc decided whether or not to accept by flipping a coin: the exhibition did not take place. Julio Le Parc creates interactive, social art. More than a mere play of light and shapes, his works are activated by the viewer’s physical interaction: movements of the retina, of the body, activate paintings, sculptures and installations that, as the artist insists, seek to “elicit a different behavior from the spectator […] and try to search alongside the public for the means of combating passivity, dependence or ideological conditioning, and to develop capacities for reflection, comparison, analysis, creation and action.” Particularly explorative of the spectator’s role, the artist creates work that is, in his own words, both interactive and unstable. Le Parc intends to elicit a specific reaction: faced with his work, viewers must lose their bearings then look at their surroundings from a fresh perspective. Le Parc’s Light Works, for instance, are more than mere visual play: they challenge our relationship to the world. And light itself is more than a mere medium: it allows Le Parc to achieve his goal of creating a work that is constantly changing. The result is a never-ending, unpredictable play of light and shadow. For the visitor, it is an immersive esthetic experience. For the artist, it is about “initiating or pursuing the demolition of traditional notions about art, its construction, display and appreciation.”
Daria de Beauvais, exhibition catalog The Illusion of Light, Palazzo Grassi / François Pinault Foundation, Venezia, 13.04 - 31.12.2014, Electa editions
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The G.R.A.V., Paris, 1961. From left to right: François Morellet, Julio Le Parc, Francisco Sobrino, Jean-Pierre Yvaral and Joël Stein.
Biography
Martha Le Parc wearing Lunettes pour une vision autre, 1965
Julio Le Parc, Argentinian Pavillion, Venice Biennale, 1966
1928 Birth of Julio Le Parc on September 23, 1928 in Mendoza, Argentina.
Le Parc creates his first Reliefs and experiments on visual instability through the use of light and movement, starting his series of Continuels Mobiles.
1943 - 1946 Le Parc attends evening classes at the School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires. He develops his interest for avant-garde artistic movements, particularly for his professor Lucio Fontana’s Spatialism and the Concrete Art Invention movement. 1955 After a few years of living on the edge of society, Le Parc enters the Higher School of Fine Arts of Buenos Aires. Politically engaged, president of the university’s student union, he plays an active role in the students’ movements, and meets his future wife Martha. 1958 Le Parc is selected to represent Argentina at the 1st Biennale de Paris, just launched by French Minister of Culture André Malraux. He moves to Paris where he settles. Le Parc begins to work on the painting’s surface and establishes unitary systems for governing the surface and shapes. 1959 In reaction against Tachism and taking as a starting point the work of Victor Vasarely, the writings of Mondrian and the tradition of Constructivism, Le Parc develops a radical approach to the painterly surface. Le Parc works on progressive sequences of forms, first in black and white, then in colour, choosing a unique scale of fourteen colors, which he has not modified to this day. The choice of following predetermined systems limits as much as possible the expression of the artist’s subjectivity on the canvas. 1960 Le Parc cofounds the G.R.A.V. (Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel) along with Horacio Garcia Rossi, François Morellet, Francis Sobrino, Joël Stein and Yvaral. Nonconformists, committed, they want to set creation free and explore new fields. G.R.A.V. is in contact with other artists groups abroad, who also aim at taking away the sacred aura of art and the artist: Group N in Padua, Group T in Milan, Group Zero in Düsseldorf…
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1962 G.R.A.V. has its first exhibition, and Le Parc further experiments on ligth, be it moving, projected, reflected or pulsating. 1963 For the 3rd Biennale de Paris, G.R.A.V. creates its famous labyrinth, a collective work bringing together works by all its members: cylinders, mirror walls, ‘all over’, that turn visitors into actors of their own performance, experiencing spatiotemporal disorientation. Le Parc integrates exterior contingencies in his works and shows increasing interest in the active involvement of the spectator by means of play rooms and games to be activated. 1966 Le Parc is awarded the International Grand Prix for Painting at the 33rd Venice Biennale. The sensorial and aesthetic experience provided by a room filled with 40 unstable mobiles, rotating mirrored discs, machines projecting and reflecting light into the space blurs the line separating art into categories such as sculpture or painting. G.R.A.V. organizes Une journée dans la rue, a public event taking place in various streets of Paris and involving active participation of passersby, who improvise choregraphies on Le Parc’s Dalles mobiles. In a pre-May 68 agitprop mode, G.R.A.V. aims at promoting a democratic type of art and mixing life with an art filled with social concerns. 1967 Le Parc holds his first retrospective at Instituto di Tella, Buenos Aires, followed by retrospectives in Caracas, Montevideo and Asuncion. 1968 G.R.A.V. is very active during the May 68 events, and particularly Le Parc, which leads him to be expelled from France. He cancels his participation to Documenta in Kassel by telegram. The expulsion order is suspended five months later thanks to the intervention of French Minister of Culture André Malraux.
Une journée dans la rue, Paris, 1966
Actress Dany Carrel in front of Julio Le Parc’s Cloison à lames réfléchissantes in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s movie La Prisonnière, 1968
The sort of social inteervention that G.R.A.V. was promoting through its art having become reality though the May 68 event, the artists decide to disband the group. 1971 Le Parc returns to painting, a practice he has abandonned since 1960, and develops colors experiments on large scale canvas based his 14 color basis. 1972 Le Parc holds a retrospective exhibition at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf involving the participation of the public. He is offered a major retrospective at the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris. Wondering whether to accept or not, he writes a critical text on the position of the artist and the institution. Considering the pros and the cons balance, he decides to leave it to chance to decide, and have one of his sons toss a coin. The result is so that he turns down the offer. 1975 Le Parc develops the Modulations series using the technique of airbrush paint to obtain gradual shades from dark to clear and a precise modulation of the surface of the canvas. 1978 Le Parc has a retrospective exhibition at the Mirò Foundation in Barcelona.
Faites tomber les mythes, 1969
2011 Le Parc is at honor at ERRE – Variations labyrinthiques at Centre Pompidou, Metz, where he presents several rooms with large-scale immersive light works. 2012 Le Parc inaugurates the Cultural Space Julio Le Parc in his hometown of Mendoza. He lightens the Obélisque of Place de la Concorde in Paris, being the first living artist to do a project on the historical monument – the blue Klein lightning, the only other artistic project done on the monument, was realised long after Klein’s death. 2013 Le Parc has a major solo exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, his first major show in a French institution since the 1980s, some 41 years after the retrospective that did not happen at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He is the artist with the most works in the group exhibition Dynamo. Un siècle de lumière et de mouvement dans l’art, 1913-2013, at Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. 2014 A large ensemble of works by Le Parc belonging to the Daros Collection is shown in Le Parc Lumière, Casa Daros Latinamerica, Rio de Janeiro, and his major work Continuel Lumière - Cylindre, from to the Collection Pinault, is shown in the exhibition The Illusion of Lights at Palazzo Grassi, Venice.
1993 Le Parc presents an immersive light room in the exhibition Latin American Artists of Twentieth Century at Museum of Modern Art, New York. 2000 Le Parc shows historical light pieces at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Neuquen; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Cordoba. 2005 Le Parc participates in the exhibition Lumière et Mouvement at Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and has a major retrospective of his light pieces, titled Le Parc Lumière, at Daros Foundation Latin America in Zürich.
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WORKS EXHIBITED AT ART BASEL 2014
Surfaces Julio Le Parc began to work on the painting’s surface in 1958, with the aim of limiting as much as possible the expression of the artist’s subjectivity on the canvas. At the time, he established ‘unitary systems for governing the surface and shapes, and their relation on the surface, according to a determined program.’ In the eye of the viewer, the paintings’ surfaces seem to present a vibration.
Contorsions The Contorsions are a prime example of optical art, due to the stark contrast between black and white, but also of kinetic art with the play on a shape in movement. The deformed metal ribbons – contiguous or intertwined circles, vertical or horizontal curves – on stripped, two-toned backgrounds, create a visual disturbance, or even the semblance of an illusion, for the viewer. These very simple devices, creating a slow and cyclical action, produce almost hypnotic works, recurrent in Le Parc’s production since the second half of the 1960s.
Déplacements At the beginning of the 1960s, Julio Le Parc decided to create works whose appearance would alter according to the viewer’s movements. The viewer is directly involved in the artist’s creative process, as his proximity to the work literally endows it with life. The chosen themes are very simple: geometric forms, whose uniform repetition improves the possible variations and deformations.
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Mobiles With a great economy of means, the artist explores the notions of movement and instability. He relies on the reflection of neighboring images and of light in movement on small forms made of Plexiglas or of metal, connected with threads. Through his immersive practice and by eliminating reference points, he alters our perception of space and our relation to it.
Lumière Julio Le Parc began to experiment with light in 1959. Originally, light was the means of giving a concrete form to several of his concerns, including the desire to create works in perpetual transformation. The result is ‘a constant and unpredictable game of light and shadow.’ For the artist, the aim of these incredibly beautiful yet simple works is to ‘initiate or pursue the destruction of traditional notions about art, its elaboration, presentation and appreciation.’
Surfaces-couleur In 1959, Julio Le Parc pursued his research on the paintings’ surface with color, to which he applied the same treatment as he had with shapes: he chose a unique scale of fourteen colors, which he has not modified to this day. He worked on several series of paintings that explored the almost infinite combinations of these colors. In 1971, Le Parc returned to painting, a practice he had abandonned since 1960. Similar to the rest of his works, each ‘target’ painting creates a minimalist and deductive structure where every new element stems from the previous one. It is systematically constituted of fourteen concentric circles of solid colours on a white background of a square canvas: according to a simple combinatory scheme, each one of the fourteen circles is painted in one of the fourteen colours of the spectrum. Since the system continues from one work in the series to the next, each combination constitutes a new and unique painting.
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Julio Le Parc exhibition view, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2013
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Séquences progressives ambivalentes 1959 - 1970 acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm unique Exhibited (selection)
Literature (selection)
• Julio Le Parc, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, February-May 2013 • Julio Le Parc, Obras 1959-1981, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, May-June 1981 • Julio Le Parc, Recherches 1959-1971 – Untersuchungen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, January 21-February 27, 1972
• Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pierre Arnaud, Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 120 • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pradel Jean-Louis, Ed. Severgnini, 2009, p. 302-303 • Julio Le Parc, Experiencias, 30 años, 1958-1988, exhibition catalog, Ed. Secrataria de Cultura de la Nación, Dirección Nacional des Artes Visuales, Buenos Aires, 1988, p. 11 • Le Parc, Cuadernos Guadalimar n°3, Ediciones Rayuela, Madrid, 1977, p. 45 • Julio Le Parc, Recherches 1959-1971 – Untersuchungen, exhibition catalog, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, 1972, p. 7
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Cercle en contorsion sur trame 1965 wood, motor, rhodoïd 123 x 125 x 20 cm 2nd of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only 2 were produced.
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Exhibited (selection)
Literature (selection)
• G.R.A.V. : Groupe de recherche d’art visuel 1960-1968, Le Magasin, Centre national d’art contemporain, Grenoble, June-September 1998 • Julio Le Parc, Experiencias. 30 años, 1958-1988, Secretaria de Cultura de la Nación, Dirección Nacional de Artes, Buenos Aires, 1988 • Julio Le Parc, Obras 1959-1981, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, May-June 1981 • Julio Le Parc, Experiències 1959-1977, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelone, 1978 • Julio Le Parc, Recherches 1959-1971 – Untersuchungen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, 1972 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1969 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Göteborg Konsthall, Göteborg, 1969 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, 1969 • Luz Espacio Movimiento. Obras de Julio Le Parc, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1968 • Luz Espacio Movimiento. Obras de Julio Le Parc, Museo de Arte Moderno, Rio de Janeiro, 1968 • Argentinean Pavillon, IX Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, 1967 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Instituto Di Tella, Buenos Aires, 1967; General Electric, Montevideo; Asuncion, 1967 • Julio Le Parc, Rétrospective, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, 1967
• Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pierre Arnaud, Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 172-173 • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pradel Jean-Louis, Ed. Severgnini, 2009, p. 100 • Julio Le Parc, Luz e Movimento, exhibition catalog, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2001, Ed. Pinacoteca, 2001, p. 75 • Stratégies de participation, G.R.A.V. – Groupe de recherche d’art visuel, exhibition catalog, Centre d’art contemporain de Grenoble, Grenoble, 1998, p. 59 • Julio Le Parc, Experiencias, 30 años, 1958-1988, exhibition catalog, Ed. Secrataria de Cultura de la Nación, Dirección Nacional des Artes Visuales, Buenos Aires, 1988, p. 39 • Le Parc: La modulazione della luce, Coopedit Macerata, by Maurizi Elverio, 1980, p. 31 • Julio Le Parc, Recherches 1959-1971 – Untersuchungen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, 1972, p. 28-29 • Julio Le Parc, exhibition catalog, Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, 1967, p. 19-20 • IX Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, exhibition catalog, 1967, p. 33
Trame altérée 1965 wood, motor, hammered metal 60 x 60 x 60 cm; pedestal: 100 x 60 x 60 cm 3rd of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only 3 were produced. Exhibited (selection)
Literature (selection)
• Julio Le Parc, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, February-May 2013 • Julio Le Parc, Experiencias, 30 años, 1958-1988, Secretaria de Cultura de la Nación, Dirección Nacional de Artes, Buenos Aires, 1988 • Julio Le Parc, Obras 1959-1981, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, May-June 1981 • Experiències 1959-1977, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelone, 1978 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1969 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Göteborg Konsthall, Göteborg, 1969 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, 1969 • Luz Espacio Movimiento. Obras de Julio Le Parc, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1968 • Luz Espacio Movimiento. Obras de Julio Le Parc, Museo de Arte Moderno, Rio de Janeiro, 1968 • Argentinean Pavillon, IX Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, 1967 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Instituto Di Tella, Buenos Aires, 1967; General Electric, Montevideo; Asuncion, 1967 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, 1967 • Argentinean Pavillon, IX Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, 1967 • Argentinean Pavillon, XXXIII Venice Biennial, Venice, June-October 1966
• Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pierre Arnaud, Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 53 • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pradel Jean-Louis, Ed. Severgnini, 2009, p. 91 • Julio Le Parc, Experiencias, 30 años, 1958-1988, exhibition catalog, Ed. Secrataria de Cultura de la Nación, Dirección Nacional des Artes Visuales, Buenos Aires, 1988, p. 35 • Le Parc, Cuadernos Guadalimar n°3, Ediciones Rayuela, 1977, p. 56 • Groupe de recherche d’art visuel 1960-1968, G.R.A.V., exhibition catalog, Lago di Como, Electa Editrice, by Birelli Diego, 1975, p. 102 • Julio Le Parc, exhibition catalog, Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Caracas, 1967, p. 6, fig. 14 • IX Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, exhibition catalog, p. 30 • XXXIII Venice Biennial, exhibition catalog, Venice, 1966
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Continuel-Mobile 1963 exhibition view, Biennale de Paris, 1963
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Mobile noir sur noir 1960 acrylic glass, painted wood, metal and nylon thread 153 x 153 x 12 cm 2nd of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only 2 were produced. Exhibited (selection)
Literature (selection)
• Julio Le Parc, Obras 1959-1981, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, May-June 1981 • Experiències 1959-1977, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelone, 1978 • Argentinean Pavillon, XXXIII Venice Biennial, Venice, June-October 1966
• Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pradel Jean-Louis, Ed. Severgnini, 2009, p. 74 • Julio Le Parc, Recherches 1958-1988, Michael Galerie, Darmstadt, 1992, p. 37 • Le Parc représente la République Argentine à la XXXIIIe Biennale de Venise 1966, Ed. Denise René
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Continuel-lumière avec 49 cylindres vitesse rapide 1967 - 2012 wood, motor, plastic, light sources 250 x 200 x 52 cm 2nd of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only 2 were produced.
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Exhibited (selection)
Literature (selection)
• Le Parc Lumière. Kinetic works by Julio Le Parc in the Daros Latinamerica, Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, October 2013-February 2014 • Julio Le Parc, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, February-May 2013 • Le Parc Lumière. Luz en movimento, Banco de la República de Colombia, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotà, July 25-October 22, 2007 • Le Parc Lumière. Obras cinéticas de Julio Le Parc de la colección Daros Latinamerica, Zürich, Laboratorio Arte Alameda, México D.F., April-August 2006 • Le Parc Lumière. Kinetic Works by Julio Le Parc, Daros Museum, Zürich, June-October 2005 • Julio Le Parc. Luz e movimento, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, May-July 2001 • Julio Le Parc en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, March 2000 • Julio Le Parc. Dialogando con la luz, Espacio Contemporáneo de Arte, Mendoza, 2000 • Espaço Julio Le Parc. Experiencias de 1959 a 1999, II Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, November 1999-January 2000 • Julio Le Parc: les années lumière, Espace Electra, Fondation Électricité de France, Paris, March-April 1996 • Experiències 1959-1977, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelone, 1978; Musée de la Résistance Salvador Allende à Nancy, Avignon, Nanterre et Châtillon, 1977 • Recherches 1959-1971 – Untersuchungen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, 1972 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1969 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Göteborg Konsthall, Göteborg, 1969 • Julio Le Parc, Retrospective, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, 1969
• Julio Le Parc Kinetic Works, exhibition catalog, Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Ed. Katrin Steffen and Hans-Michael Herzog, Daros Latinamerica AG, Hatje Cantz, 2013, cover, p. 95-99 • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pierre Arnaud, Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 44 • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pradel Jean-Louis, Ed. Severgnini, 2009, p. 114 • Le Parc Lumière: Kinetic Works by Julio Le Parc, Daros Exhibitions, Daros Latinamerica / Ostfildern, Hatje Cantz, with texts by Sebastián López, Hans-Michael Herzog, Ruth Schmidheiny, 2005, fig. 4 • Julio Le Parc. Luz e movimento, exhibition catalog, Centro Dragão de Mar de Arte e Cultura, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Ceará, Fortaleza, 2001, p. 41 • Julio Le Parc. Dialogando con la luz, exhibition catalog, Espacio Contemporáneo de Arte, Subsecretaria de Cultura – Gobierno de Mendoza, Mendoza, p. 14 • Julio Le Parc. Arte e Tecnologia, II Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, exhibition catalog, with texts by Leirner Sheila and Domingues Diana, Fundação Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, 2000 • Julio Le Parc en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, 2000, p. 21 • Julio Le Parc, Experiencias, 30 años, 1958-1988, exhibition catalog, Ed. Secrataria de Cultura de la Nación, Dirección Nacional des Artes Visuales, 1988, p. 52
Continuel-lumière avec formes en contorsion 1966 wood, motor, plastic, light 152 x 122 x 27 cm 1st of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only this piece was produced. Exhibited (selection)
Literature (selection)
• Erre, Variations labyrinthiques, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, September 2011-March 2012 • Julio Le Parc, Obras 1959-1981, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, May-June 1981 • Julio Le Parc, Recherches 1959-1971 – Untersuchungen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, January 21-February 27, 1972 • Luz Espacio Movimiento. Obras de Julio Le Parc, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1968 • Luz Espacio Movimiento. Obras de Julio Le Parc, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, 1968 • Le Parc, Galerie Denise René, November-December 1966 • Argentinean Pavillion, XXXIII Venice Biennial, Venice, June – October 1966
• Mouvement lumière participation, G.R.A.V. 1960-1968, exhibition catalog, Musée des Beaux-arts de Rennes, Ed. Galerie Art & Essai et Musée des Beaux-arts de Rennes, 2013, p. 127 • Erre, Variations labyrinthiques, exhibition catalog, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Ed. Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2011, p. 162 • Julio Le Parc, Il Cinetismo, Attualita e storia a confronto, exhibition catalog, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, 2003, p. 40 • Julio Le Parc. Dialogando con la luz, exhibition catalog, Espacio Contemporáneo de Arte, Subsecretaria de Cultura – Gobierno de Mendoza, Mendoza, with a text by Sheila Leirner, 2000, p.15 • Julio Le Parc en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, 2000, p. 20 • Julio Le Parc, Experiencias, 30 años, 1958-1988, exhibition catalog, Ed. Secrataria de Cultura de la Nación, Dirección nacional des Artes Visuales, Buenos Aires, 1988, p. 53 • Catálogo General. Colección pintura y escultura latinoamericana, Museo de Bellas Artes, 1979 • Julio Le Parc, Recherches 1959-1971 – Untersuchungen, Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, 1972, p. 38-39 • Participation – à la recherche d’un nouveau spectateur. Groupe de recherche d’art Visuel, exhibition catalog, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, 1968, p 30-31 • Le Parc, exhibition catalog, Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Caracas, 1967, p.12
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Lumières alternÊes 1963 - 1993 wood, motor, metal, light 600 x 400 x 40 cm 2nd of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only 2 were produced.
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Lumières alternées 1963 - 1993 wood, motor, metal, light 600 x 400 x 40 cm 2nd of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only 2 were produced. Exhibited (selection) • Le Parc Lumière. Kinetic works by Julio Le Parc in the Daros Latinamerica, Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, October 2013February 2014 • Erre, Variations labyrinthiques, Centre Pompidou-Metz, September 2011-March 2012 • Julio Le Parc, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, February-May 2013 • Al calor del pensamiento. Works from the Daros Latinamerica Collection, Sala de Arte Santander, Exposiciones Boadilla, Fundación Banco Santander, Madrid, February-April, 2010 • Le Parc Lumière – Luz en movimiento, Banco de la República de Colombia, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá, July-October 2007 • Le Parc Lumière. Obras cinéticas de Julio Le Parc de la colección Daros Latinamerica, Zürich, Laboratorio Arte Alameda, México D.F., April-August 2006 • Le Parc Lumière. Kinetic works by Julio Le Parc, Daros Museum, Zürich, JuneOctober 2005 • Espaço Julio Le Parc, Experiencias de 1959 à 1999, II Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, November 1999-January 2000 • Les années lumières, Espace Electra, Fondation Électricité de France, March 27-April 28, 1996 Literature (selection) • Julio Le Parc Kinetic Works, exhibition catalog, Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Ed. Katrin Steffen and Hans-Michael Herzog, Daros Latinamerica AG, Hatje Cantz, 2013, p. 132-135 • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pierre Arnaud, Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 123
• Dynamo, un siècle de lumière et de mouvement dans l’art, 1913-2013, exhibition catalog, Grand Palais, Paris, by Lemoine Serge, 2013, p. 246 • Erre, Variations labyrinthiques, exhibition catalog, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Ed. Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2011, p. 162 • Al Calor der Pensamiento, Obras de la Daros Latinamerica Collection, exhibition catalog, Daros Latinamerica Collection, Edition Fundacion Banco Santander, Madrid, Daros Latinamerica AG, Zürich, 2010, p. 131 • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pradel Jean-Louis, Ed. Severgnini, 2009, p. 302-303 • Le Parc Lumière: Kinetic Works by Julio Le Parc, Daros Exhibitions, Daros Latinamerica / Ostfildern, Hatje Cantz, with texts by Sebastián López, Hans-Michael Herzog, Ruth Schmidheiny, 2005, fig. 17 and p. 182 • Julio Le Parc. Luz e movimento, exhibition catalog, Centro Dragão de Mar de Arte e Cultura, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Ceará, Fortaleza, 2001, p. 60 • Julio Le Parc. Dialogando con la luz, exhibition catalog, Espacio Contemporáneo de Arte, Subsecretaria de Cultura – Gobierno de Mendoza, Mendoza, 2000, p. 9 • Julio Le Parc. Arte e Tecnologia, II Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, exhibition catalog, with texts by Leirner Sheila and Domingues Diana, Fundação Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, 2000 • Julio Le Parc en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, 2000, p. 31
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Surface couleur - Série 14 n°5E 1971 acrylic on canvas 171 x 171 cm unique
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Exhibited (selection)
Literature (selection)
• Le Parc, Antes Y Después de Lumière, Galeria La Cometa, Bogotà, July-August 2007 • Julio Le Parc. Dialogando con la luz, Espacio Contemporáneo de Arte, Mendoza, 2000 • Espaço Julio Le Parc. Experiencias de 1959 a 1999, II Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, November 1999January 2000
• Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pierre Arnaud, Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 45 • Le Parc, Antes Y Después de Lumière, exhibition catalog, Galeria La Cometa, 2007, p. 50 • Julio Le Parc. Arte e Tecnologia, exhibition catalog, II Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Fundação Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul, 2000 • Le Parc, Cuadernos Guadalimar n°3, Ediciones Rayuela, Madrid, 1977, p. 46 • Julio Le Parc, Dialogando con la luz, exhibition catalog, Espacio Contemporaneo de Arte, Subsecretaria de Cultura – Gobierno de Mendoza, Mendoza, p. 3
Couleurs exhibition view, Galerie Bugada & Cargnel, Paris, 2013
Next page: Continuel Mobile - Sphère rouge 2001 - 2013 red plexiglas, steel threads, aluminium, painted wood sphere : 520 x 520 x 520 cm 2nd of a set of 9 unique pieces. Only 2 were produced. Exhibited (selection) • Julio Le Parc, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, February-May 2013 • Inauguration, Espacio Cultural Julio Le Parc, Mendoza, 2012 Literature (selection) • Julio Le Parc, monograph, by Pierre Arnaud, Skira Flammarion, 2013, p. 123
Continuel Mobile - Sphère Rouge is composed of almost three thousand red translucent square-shaped elements drawing the impressive shape of a 5 meter wide sphere in the air. With a great economy of means, the artist explores the notions of movement and instability. He relies on the reflection of neighboring images and of light in movement on small forms made of Plexiglas, connected simply with strings. Through his immersive practice and by eliminating reference points, he alters our perception of and our relation to the scale of the space. The numerous translucent elements are set into motion by the tiniest change in the air currents. Light is trapped in the structure, multiplied and diffused in every direction. The beams of light are projected throughout the exhibition hall, turning it into a panoptic screen. Initiated in the early 1960s, the artist describes the series Continuel Mobiles as a major step in his search for an open work of art: “it helped me resolve the problem that preoccupied me: the diversity of situations, in one experience, the notion of movement, the instability and the probability, the outside contingences of the work and the will to move away from the notion of a stable and definitive work.” 19